Disposable and recyclable utensils, such as plastic spoons, forks, knives, and hybrids thereof, are frequently provided to customers, employees, students, and others in informal settings, such as casual restaurants, take-out eateries, and school and business cafeterias. A number of issues have been recognized with respect to such cutlery, particularly where it is available to consumers on a self-service basis. Among the most basic needs with respect to the retention and dispensing of cutlery is that the cutlery be maintained in a hygienic condition pending retrieval by a given consumer. A further need that has come to be well recognized relates to the conservation of resources so that consumers are likely to obtain only the number and type of utensils for which he or she actually expects to need. Of course, a further preference of establishments and consumers alike is that the cutlery can be obtained by the consumer quickly and conveniently.
Under the prior art, one method for ensuring that cutlery is provided in hygienic form is for it to be purchased and distributed in a sealed pouch. The pouch is often designed to have all of the components that the typical consumer might require, such as a fork, a knife, a spoon, or a combination utensil, and potentially a napkin, condiments, and even a cleansing wipe. While the contents of such pouches are likely to be maintained in a sanitary condition, the pouches suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, they are prone to include by default one or more components for which the consumer has no need or desire. Those components are typically unused and simply discarded. Furthermore, separate manufacturing steps and materials must be employed to produce the pouch and to envelop the components therewithin. Still further, while the contents of the pouches may indeed be maintained in a sanitary manner, there is no such guarantee for the pouches themselves, which may well be rummaged through by multiple customers of varying hand cleanliness before being selected by the ultimate user.
Rather than providing cutlery in pouches, establishments may opt to make utensils available in unwrapped form, such as in bins separated by cutlery type. The selection of cutlery directly from the bins permits the consumer to select only the utensils likely to be used. However, the utensils are exposed not only to airborne contaminants but also to contamination and, perhaps equally importantly, the perception of contamination deriving from innumerable consumers, each of unknown cleanliness, reaching into the pile of utensils to obtain the one he or she ultimately selects. Furthermore, this method of dispensing cutlery permits the consumer to grab multiple utensils by the handful thereby leading to further expense for the establishment. Still further, where potentially hundreds of utensils rest in a single bin, a contamination event, such as a spill or the like, may require that the entire contents of the bin be disposed of, which leads to still further waste.
With these and further issues relating to prior art methods of distributing cutlery known, a number of skilled inventors have sought to provide cutlery dispensers that permit cutlery to be retained in a hygienic manner pending distribution. Such cutlery dispensers generally have sought to dispense individual pieces of cutlery in a manner overcoming the waste and inefficiencies summarized above.
In 1935, for instance, J. A. Diemer disclosed a Dispensing Device with U.S. Pat. No. 2,141,684 that employed a partitioned cabinet retaining stacks of utensils. Utensils from each stack of utensils could be dispensed by actuation of a plunger. In operation, the plunger would seek to raise the entire stack of utensils but for the lowermost utensil while simultaneously sliding the lowermost utensil backward until its anterior end slid off of a shelf. A that point, the utensil would, assuming proper operation of the dispensing device, be pivotally suspended by its posterior end to be grasped by the user.
Effective and reliable operation of the dispenser of the '684 patent relied on a plurality of contingencies. For example, it was necessary for the sharp tip of the plunger to engage the utensil to be dispensed in a direct, endwise relationship, which was challenging at best and would vary in degree of practicality depending on the type of utensil to be dispensed. Moreover, requiring the plunger not only to press a given utensil backwardly but also to lift an entire stack of utensils, which could itself be jammed or otherwise difficult to move, introduced another source of malfunction. Still further, the ability of a user to grasp the utensil sought to be dispensed hinged on its actually pivoting downwardly to be perceived by the consumer and not being obstructed. Diemer's and other utensil dispensers of the prior art are vulnerable to malfunction.
Other utensil dispensers have been disclosed wherein utensils must be individually loaded into the dispenser. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,694 teaches a cutlery dispenser wherein a lowermost utensil is dispensed by being slid with respect to the remainder of the stack. In one embodiment, an actuating member moves a shaft portion that in turn moves a translating portion. The translating portion pivots to cause a pushing portion to rotate toward the utensil and then to move the utensil to fall through a dispensing opening. This dispensing operation is characterized as requiring relatively little dispensing force and promoting easy and reliable dispensing. However, the '694 patent is interpreted to demand the individual loading of utensils into the dispenser, which is time consuming and introduces the opportunity for incorrect loading and resultant jamming. Further, with individual handling, a further source of contamination is introduced. Other utensil dispensers of the prior art are similarly limited.
Certain disclosed utensil dispensers have required that utensils be pre-loaded into a cartridge and mounted in the machine within the cartridge. With the requirement of a cartridge, additional expense and complication are introduced. Moreover, where a cartridge is employed, it would ideally be fully emptied before being replaced with a new, fully loaded cartridge. However, to avoid having the dispenser exhausted of utensils at an inopportune time, such as during a mealtime rush, the establishment might deem it necessary to replace and dispose of a cartridge before it is fully empty so that a full load of utensils will be available. Such systems thus increase the inconvenience and cost of supplying cutlery to the consumer.
Many of the foregoing and other utensil dispensers of the prior art are complex in structure and operation. Such complexity leads to excess expense in manufacture and purchase. Furthermore, structurally complex dispensers are prone to malfunction and can be complex in usage and repair.
Utensil dispensers are also known, such as through U.S. Pat. No. 8,152,004, wherein stacks of cutlery must be adhered or bonded together prior to loading and, potentially, dispensing. With that, adhesive strips, adhesive itself, or other bonding material is introduced into the system, which adds further complication and another source of potential malfunction. Furthermore, residual adhesive left on an article of cutlery may well give the impression to the consumer that the article of cutlery that was sought to be hygienically retained and individually dispensed is less than sanitary. Still other disclosed utensil dispensers, such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 8,210,364, have required specially formed utensils to permit their stacking and dispensing. This introduces still further expense in tooling and manufacture.
It is thus apparent that there remains a recognized need for a structurally and ergonomically efficient utensil dispenser that is reliable in operation to permit utensils to be retained and dispensed in a convenient and hygienic manner with reduced waste.